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Sunday, July 28, 2013

Canada’s crime rate has fallen to its lowest level in 41 years with a
large drop in murders and violence.

The figures from the Canadian Center for Justice Statistics also show
that Toronto had a seven-percent drop in police-reported crime last year – the
lowest rate among municipalities for the sixth year.

There were almost two-million criminal incidents investigated by the
police last year, about 36,000 fewer than the previous year.

Of
that number, 543 homicides were reported across Canada, 55 fewer than in 2011.

That brought the murder rate down to its lowest level since 1966, the
report said.

Crime rates overall fell in most provinces except New Brunswick and
Prince Edward Island and the territories.

The highest police-report crime rates were in Kelowna and Regina while Quebec
City followed Toronto with the lowest.

The statistics listed Winnipeg, Saskatoon and Thunder Bay as the most
violent cities.

Coinciding with the drop in crime were initiatives taken by the federal
government to get tough on criminals including the passing last year of an
omnibus crime bill with stiffer penalties.

Sunday, July 14, 2013

There’s
more support across Canada to abolish the non-elected Senate that’s caught in a
negative light over a spending scandal.

Federal
New Democratic Party Leader Tom Mulcair and Saskatchewan's Premier Brad Wall
and his Saskatchewan Party believe the upper body serves no useful purpose and
should be abolished.

Prime Minister Stephen Harper had campaigned on reforming the Senate and
wanted to find a way to have senators elected by the provinces they represent.

Senators
now are appointed for “life” – until age 75 – by the Governor General on the
advice of the prime minister.

Harper’s Conservatives have so far failed to reform the 105-member Senate
that is responsible for considering government bills and giving “royal assent”
or final approval.

Constitutional experts say demands to abolish the Senate are “pointless.”

That’s because the Constitution requires the approval of at least seven
provinces representing 50 percent of the population to make any significant
changes – and that’s far from possible at present.

The Senate’s reputation has been rocked recently over allegations that four
senators have made major improper housing or travel expense claims that are now
being investigated.

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All but 200 of the 2,000 people forced from their homes when a runaway
oil-tanker train derailed, killing up to 50 people, have been able to go home in
Lac-Megantic, Quebec.

Mayor Colette Roy-Laroche met with Quebec
Premier Pauline Marois to arrange for the distribution of $60 million the
provincial government has pledged towards reconstruction and aid to families.

Police are investigating whether the engineer properly set the brakes
when he left the 73-car freight train parked for the night.

It
later hurtled eight miles downhill, derailed and exploded destroying a large
part of the downtown and killing 24 people, with about 26 still missing.

“I
feel absolutely awful about this; I'm devastated by what's occurred in this
community,” said Ed Burkhardt, head of the Montreal Maine and Atlantic Railway
Co., who visited the site.

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News in brief:

-
The heaviest one-day rainfall in Toronto’s history dumped almost five inches
last Monday causing havoc with commuters and cut power to 300,000 customers and
trapped people in high-rise elevators. Flood waters brought the subway system
to a halt and surrounded a GO Transit commuter train. The 1,200 passengers on
the two-level train were removed by police over five hours using inflatable
boats near the Don River.

-
Three would-be Canadians are complaining to the Ontario Superior Court that
they shouldn’t be forced to pledge allegiance to the Queen for citizenship. The
three – from Ireland, Israel and Jamaica – oppose the oath on religious or
conscientious grounds and suggest that pledging allegiance to Canada should be
sufficient.

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Facts and figures:

Canada’s dollar has advanced by almost two cents to 96.19 cents U.S. while
the U.S. greenback is valued at $1.0395 in Canadian funds, before bank exchange
fees.

The Bank of Canada’s key interest rate is steady at 1 percent while the
prime-lending rate is 3 percent.

Stock
markets are higher, with the Toronto exchange index at 12,488 points and the
TSX Venture index 893 points.

-
British Columbia Premier Christy Clark is once again a member of the legislature
after winning a by-election in Westside-Kelowna. After engineering the
surprising come-from-behind Liberal win in last May's provincial election, Clark
was defeated in her own district of Vancouver-Point Grey. Former Liberal
politician Ben Stewart stepped aside to let Clark run.

-
A memorial garden was dedicated in Toronto at the site of one of Canada's worst
aviation disasters. It was there Air Canada Flight 621 slammed into the ground
with the deaths of 109 passengers and crew on July 5, 1970. The DC-8 was en
route to Los Angeles from Montreal when it was attempting to land at Toronto's
international airport.

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Devastating floods that hit Calgary last month have resulted in many animals
looking for new homes after some enclosures were destroyed at the Calgary Zoo.
The Magnetic Hill Zoo in Moncton, New Brunswick is the new home for two
Hyacinth Macaws, the largest parrot species, as well as two giant anteaters.

Sunday, July 7, 2013

A
Canadian man and woman are behind held in jail after an attempted terrorist
attack in Victoria that was eerily similar to that in Boston.

The
Mounties said they foiled the attack motivated by an "al-Qaida
ideology" that involved three pressure-cooker bombs set to blow up outside
the British Columbia legislature during Canada Day celebrations last Monday.

After arresting John Nuttall, 38, and Amanda Korody, 30, police showed
photos of what they said were homemade bombs in pressure cookers similar to
those that killed three people and injured more than 260 during the Boston
Marathon two months ago.

"This self-radicalized behavior was intended to cause maximum impact
and harm to Canadian citizens at the B.C. legislature on a national
holiday," said Assistant Mountie Commissioner Wayne Rideout.

The Canadian Security Intelligence Service informed the force of the
plot five months ago that resulted in the arrests of the two suspects in
Abbotsford.

Investigators said the police ensured the bombs posed no public threat
as they contained only “inert” explosives that couldn’t be detonated.

The pressure cookers had been filled with rusty nails, screws and
washers designed to kill and maim bystanders.